Social media tool for child trafficking

BY GLEE JALEA with RJ CARBONELL, Manila Times, Oct 21, 2017

The popularity and easy access to social media have made it easier for pimps to sell children and for young women to advertise their sex services, a Philippine study showed.

Social media has emerged as a tool by which children in the Philippines are sexually exploited, according to a group.

In its recent study entitled Children and the Sex Trade in the Digital Age: A Study on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Metro Manila commissioned by Plan International Philippines, 66 percent or 21 out of 32 children interviewed aged 13 to 18 made online transactions to get customers.

“More cases of sex tourism and all cases of pornography were internet-mediated. There were also children who would play the role of a pimp for their peers but would also be a sex provider at the same time, depending on circumstances,” the study revealed.

Traditionally, only three persons were involved in commercial sex transactions: the sex provider, the pimp, and the customer. Pimps control sex providers or traffic them to reach different customers. But over time, the prostitution “industry” has evolved, with many engaging in “freelancing” or transacting customers for themselves instead of sharing a portion of the money with a pimp.

Most of these transactions occur on Facebook, the study said.

“Transactions [posted in the Facebook group by freelancers]included agreements on the characteristics of the child or adolescent and/or the customer; terms of payment; specific sexual acts to be performed including the do’s and donts; length of the sexual service; date, time, and location of the service; and other conditions which could include transportation service or use of condom among others,” the study added.

Examples of the Facebook group accounts included PSP Crib 2; Favorite Walk; PSP for Rent; Take a WALK; PSP Walkers; Walker Finders; Metro Walkers; Chubby Bunnies; PSP on the Go; Favorite Coffee; Cainta-Rizal Walkers; Need Pizza, Candy, Coffee, etc., Legit GM PSP; Walking Confession; Private Pinay; and Extreme Overdose to name a few.

Other social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram; mobile applications such as Grindr, Tinder, Viber and Whatsapp; jobfinder site Craigslist and e-commerce site like OLX.ph are also being used for sex transactions.

The study said victims were mostly enticed by their peers to do online sex to earn money. Some of those who pose and mime sexual acts in front of cameras believe that the abuse if “less” because there is no physical contact. These young workers stayed in the industry for two to five years.

“Children are using protective strategies to help themselves, but the problem still remains…you have to understand what it’s like to grow up as a teenager in the society,” said Dr. Elizabeth Protacio-De Castro from Psychosocial Support and Children’s Rights Resource Center (PSTCRRC).

De Castro, the chief researcher of the study, added: “one child was saying that in the internet-mediated process, they were not abused anyway.”

“Ang pang-aabuso sa bata ay hindi bago. Ang bago lang ay ‘yung teknolohiya (Child abuse is not new. What is new is the technology use),” said Naomi Abarientos, deputy executive director of Children’s Legal Bureau, Inc.

“The absence of physical contact does not remove the essence of child abuse,” she added.

Majority of the respondents involved in Internet-mediated sex were paid P1,000 to P3,000 per transaction. Children and adolescents in personal or non-mediated transactions were paid P500 or less.

Their customers on the other hand, were adults between 20 and 50 years old, including foreigners who “pay higher than local customers and provide more tip. And sometimes even shoulder transportation expenses.”

Epicenter of online sex trade

The Philippines has become a global “source” for the child cybersex industry. In Asia, Filipino children have the highest access to the Internet, using it to earn money.

In a study in 2010 by the National Youth Commission that included a sample of 5,850 youth between ages 13 and 30, a great majority or 83.3 percent wanted to extend financial assistance to their families. Sixty-six percent of those in the 15 to 17 age group dropped out of school and used social networking sites.

Up until mid-2000, child pornography was not given much attention in the country. From 2000 to 2003, only 33 cases of child pornography were reported to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

From 2006 to 2007, DSWD noted in a report that out of 806 cases of child trafficking, 264 were victims of prostitution and only 17 were victims of cyber pornography.

The US Department of State in its 2016 Trafficking in Persons Report noted that the Philippines convicted only 42 traffickers and only for five cases of online child sex trafficking.

Early this year, child abuse cases linked with cybercrime were reported in Bacolod, Iloilo and Boracay. In Quezon City, 30 people who maintained a sex den were arrested in February.

Policy gaps

Kabayan Rep. Tom Villarin admitted that the government lacks awareness on the growing number of cases of children involved in online sexual exploitation.

“The lack of awareness down to the local government on how human trafficking works still needs to be addressed,” he told The Manila Times.

“Right now, the policy gap lies on how to intervene with the children. Parents have also been open to abuse.

Another policy gap is on strengthening the role of local government. While local government is under the law, in terms of focusing on the issue of child exploitation, the tendency is to look the other way,” he added.

Plan International’s study noted that while there are laws protecting children from the sex trade, these have not been implemented for lack of funds and trained personnel.

These laws include Republic Act 7610 or the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.

The group said 31 laws and 17 bills related to child protection also had no budgetary allocations in 2012.
Plan International urged the government to take a closer look on cases of cybercrime among children.

“One point to make is that children are not passive victims of this phenomenon. The numbers are higher in terms of voluntary and internet-oriented abuse. Telecommunication has been underscored,” de Castro said.

“We cannot always blame poverty. We need to review how our society’s child-rearing practices are happening. In today’s digital world, everywhere is a danger zone,” she added.

Prevalent

The Philippine National Police’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division admitted that “child sex trafficking” through online transactions is prevalent.

PNP-APD Director Senior Supt. Villamor Tuliao said crime syndicates are “enticing” foreigners online to come to the country to engage in sexual activities with children.

“We should know that this is not only in Europe or in [United States]. [These syndicates] have a lot of clients around the world, and because they’ve been doing this for a long time, they have already established networks,” Tuliao said.

The victims, he said, are aged eight to 15. These syndicates sell the children to foreigners for P20,000 to P30,000.

But the worst part, Tuliao said, is these foreigners take videos of the children while performing sexual acts on them and these videos will then be uploaded online.

Supt. Shiela Portento, head of the PNP’s Operations Management Division, said the perpetrators of child sex trafficking were the relatives or parents of the victims themselves.

“They would say ‘Just dance!’ or ‘He won’t be able to touch you!’” Portento said of parents who forced their children to pose for the camera in front of foreigners.

Portento said this is a big challenge to authorities because children would “readily agree” to do their parents’ bidding.

However, the bigger setback, according to her, was the psychological impact or trauma on the children.
According to Tuliao, online child sex trafficking is an “emerging threat” to the country and is a serious crime that is punishable by life imprisonment.

“This is a crime against children. The children are our future. Children are the most vulnerable people in our society so we need to address this,” Tuliao said.

The prevalence of the problem again came to fore with the arrest on October 15 of two suspected cybersex
traffickers who sold children to foreigners online.

Tuliao said the suspects were caught offering a 17-year-old girl to the foreigners for P9,000.

“Their modus operandi is to engage their clients through the web, and when they get their attention, they would entice them to come to the Philippines and have sexual encounters with the children,” Tuliao said.

Chief Inspector Michael Virtudazo, director of the PNP’s Internet Crimes Against Children, said the duo — Jamil Sampaga and Anthony Mabansag — created more than 20 accounts online. These accounts were used to send “child exploitation” images to foreigners to urge them to pay for sex.

“There were different offers. One offer was worth P30,000 good for one week inside a hotel. The foreigner could do anything [to the child]for P30,000,” Virtudazo said.

Tuliao said the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Nordic Liaison Office helped in providing intelligence information on the capture of Sampaga and Mabansag.

The 17-year-old victim was turned over to the Manila Social Welfare Department.